


The Resonance of Honest Laughter

by wizardslexicon



Series: Standing Divided [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: 3D2Y, Gen, Physical Therapy, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 20:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3783691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wizardslexicon/pseuds/wizardslexicon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy's badly hurt after the events of the war at Marineford—it's up to the Amazons to bring him back into prime fighting condition for training, and maybe to do a little more.<br/>Redux of Luffy's Strawhat Separation arc.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Resonance of Honest Laughter

“Is he awake?” The voice seemed to go around Luffy, partially avoiding his awareness though he registered the sounds. The voice was unfamiliar, and his body felt...weird.

“The real question is whether or not he’s alive,” said another voice, also unknown. “The Snake Princess will be furious if we don’t get him in better condition. Hey, look, he’s opened his eyes.” And he had. Luffy was scanning the small, sterile room he was in for any sign that he was in a familiar place.

“Where am I?” he asked, reaching out to his arm, which felt strange. Several tubes were attached to him, the ends hidden under gauze. He went to tear them off and had his hand painfully slapped away by one of the women in the room.

“Don’t tear off your IVs!” she snapped, and Luffy, though he pouted, obeyed. He knew better than to antagonize doctors. Instead of freeing himself, he sagged back on his cot. He’d never felt so tired in his life. “I have to go, Camellia—please explain to him what his needs are and how he’s to fulfill them.” The doctor left, and the nurse, Camellia, approached Luffy’s bedside with a clipboard, on which several papers were pinned.

“Well, Mr....Monkey, it seems you’ve been hurt quite a lot!” Luffy snickered, then winced. That had hurt.

“I know! Tra-guy fixed me up.” Camellia took a note on the clipboard.

“Trafalgar Law? That would explain it. Well, I’ll tell you what we found when you came to us. There was evidence of an infection caused by open wounds on your shoulder, likely from injection; you have severe burns all over your chest; you were, at some point, kicked with such force that there was a shoeprint on your abdominal muscles; your muscles had been so thoroughly torn that the mere fact that you were able to stand was a miracle of medicine; and lastly, you appeared to have recent blunt force injuries to most of your body.” The nurse visibly went down the list. “You were also malnourished, for the record.”

“Yeah, I’m hungry,” Luffy muttered, but Camellia ignored him.

“It appears that most of those wounds were treated by an extremely competent doctor, who you have helpfully named as Trafalgar Law. However, you did not allow yourself time to recuperate from your frankly superhuman injuries, and reopened many of them. You were brought back here to Amazon Lily by Rayleigh, who instructed us to get you back to prime condition so you would be able to train safely on Rusukaina.” Luffy made a face.

“Just get me some meat, and I’ll be fine,” he insisted, trying to sit up. He quickly tired in the attempt, though, and sagged back onto his pillow.

“As I said,” Camellia said, more gently than before. “You’ll need another week or so of bed rest to let your body repair itself, and then physical therapy will start. In the meantime,” she said, removing some papers from the clipboard, “here are some helpful instructions that you should follow in conjunction with your supervised therapy.” Luffy fixed the papers with a flat stare.

“Can’t,” he said, and put the papers down. Camella rolled her eyes.

“It’s right there on the paper,” she said, a little impatiently. Luffy nodded.

“I know. I don’t know how to read stuff like that.” The nurse blinked twice, then grabbed her pen and wrote “LEARN TO READ” in large letters across the top.

“I need to go talk to one of my superiors,” she said, a little flustered. “I’ll be seeing you, Mr. Monkey.”

 

Luffy had grown used to eating the meat, fruit, and vegetable meals he was served in his bed, and being frequently turned over to prevent bedsores. He hardly even minded being taken to the bathroom and helped. But he did mind the endless monotony of his hospital room, and the temptation of the sweet warm air that blew in through his window, to say nothing of the unceasing sounds of battle and chatter.

It was on his sixth day in the hospital that an unexpected face appeared in his doorway: Boa Hancock, looking fierce and imperious. Her snake tattoo was as imposing as ever, but as soon as she saw Luffy her face softened into something a little less terrifying, though the beauty in that brutality that gained her fame was hidden to him. She swept over to his bedside instantly, clutching at his hand, and Elder Nyon was close behind, closing the door behind her.

“Oh, my poor Luffy!” Hancock murmured, kissing his hand. Luffy tolerated this and other effusions for a minute or so, until he noticed the bag Elder Nyon was carrying with her.

“What’s up?” he asked, trying to casually tug his hand free. Of course, in his weakened state and with Hancock’s incredible strength, he had no chance.

“Hancock wants to teach you reading,” the older woman said, “and I am trying to prove to her that she hasn’t the patience for it.” Hancock rolled her eyes.

“Shut up, old hag! You don’t understand the power of unconditional love!” Hancock took a slate from the bag, along with a piece of chalk. “Come here, darling, let me show you. I’m sure you already know a few letters, like those of your name...” And so it went. Luffy would normally have been resistant to the lessons, but he had nothing else to do, and Hancock would use her Haki to flick his forehead when he stopped paying attention: a surprisingly effective reinforcer.

A few hours later, when Hancock had indeed tired of pushing learning into a brain as recalcitrant as Luffy’s, she packed the slate away, kissed his forehead, and left, promising to return the next day. For Luffy’s part, he didn’t much care, closing his eyes and trying his hardest to listen to the sounds outside his window, trying to imagine the exchanges of spear and fist, and the flight of each singing arrow.

So the routine continued. Day after day, for weeks, Hancock would come to teach him reading. It was slow work, but rewarding, as the symbols surrounding Luffy slowly became more than just things to be ignored. There was a wealth of information in words that he had never known before, and although the endless “What does that word mean?” inquiries could irritate even the most patient teacher, the look of satisfaction on Luffy’s face when he learned was priceless.

After lessons, he would listen to the outside. Alone and silent, he had no way of knowing that his listening exercises, conceived in the blankest monotony, were in fact exercising his latent Color of Observation Haki, but he was growing in that respect quickly, and Hancock, being a proficient user herself, noticed. Knowing that Rayleigh wanted him trained in all three colors evenly, she ordered the medical personnel to speed up the pace of his physical therapy.

Having his muscles stretched, hobbling around on a walker, and doing agonizing exercises was far from Luffy’s idea of fun, but he tolerated it because of something Elder Nyon said to him one day, when he seemed on the verge of quitting.

“This must be done,” she said, “for you to regain the strength you’ve lost. You may reach for that power when you return to your crew and not find it if you quit here.” And since then, he had never backed down or even hesitated, gritting his teeth through the pain of it, envisioning his smiling comrades whenever the pain threatened to black out his vision. Within two  months, he was able to walk independently, jog lightly for short periods, and throw punches. He was even starting to work off the weight he’d gained in the hospital, simply from exercise rather than any particular wish to be smaller.

“It’s time for me to take a more active hand in your recuperation, darling,” Hancock said one day, while they sat in the empty arena after reading lessons. Luffy ignored the term of endearment, and plowed on oblivious.

“How?” Hancock hid behind her bangs a little, seemingly embarrassed by having to say it outright.

“At Marineford...I could not help but notice it. Your kick power, compared to your punch power....it’s inferior. So I’ll teach you kicking, and help you with your Haki, every day until you’re well.” Luffy shrugged.

“Okay. Let’s start!” Hancock raised a hand to stop him.

“We can’t do that in these clothes. Here!” She pulled a parcel out of her bag of teaching materials and thrust it at Luffy, before pulling out one of her own. “Turn around so we can change.” Luffy looked at her blankly, but obeyed, tugging on the new clothes and turning around just as Hancock did. They faced each other as mirrors, in matching red short shorts and tank tops. They were Criminal brand, extremely expensive, and apparently custom, as Luffy’s tank read “MEAT” in large white letter, while Hancock’s said “SLAY”.

“Alright,” said Hancock, still holding herself up as if she was wearing her silk dress, every bit the Empress. “Here, love, let me show you how to position your legs...”

 

The third time Luffy and Hancock sparred was the first anyone else watched.

Luffy’s grasp of Haki, initially instinctive, had grown in leaps and bounds under Hancock’s attentive and thorough tutelage. As his physical strength returned, they began having matches, in which the only rules were that Hancock could not turn Luffy to stone. Hancock’s suggestion was simple.

“When you are strong enough to fight me to a draw,” she had said, knowing Luffy would not surpass her, “I will allow you to return to Rayleigh.” They had then carved a large tally chart into the base of her observation deck in the arena, with L for Luffy on one side, H for Hancock on the other, and D for Draw between them. As more and more Amazons queued up to watch their Empress do battle with a famous pirate daily (and to see the boy who humiliated the other two Boa sisters humbled), the number of tally marks under “H” continued to grow.

Clouds of steam hissed out of Luffy’s skin, glowing with the exertion, then broke apart as as fists smashed through them. Hancock went jet black, all over, and the fists bounced back off of her. Her Haki was strong enough that it could easily tank his Gear Second attacks, a lesson he’d learned painfully on many occasions. On this one, Hancock jumped high into the air, obscuring the sun for a brief moment, and brought down one muscular leg on the place Luffy would have been, had he not moved across the platform in the seconds between the zenith of her jump and her landing.

He charged in, invisible with speed, and kicked straight up in the air, but Hancock leaned back, grabbing his collar and flipping him over her and into the ground. With the breath knocked out of him, he could only watch as Hancock turned on a heel and gently stepped on his head with the other foot. Another tally mark on the “H” side, another day. The Amazons in the stands applauded as Hancock helped Luffy up.

Sparring was far from their only activity. Amazon Lily was a decent sized island with jungles ripe for exploration, and on the average day, any given resident could hear loud whoops and hysterical laughter as their Empress and her student ran through the forest, having fun even as they exercised. Few had ever heard Hancock laugh so freely, like she was genuinely having a good time without needing to be superior to anyone. When the two of them stumbled out of the woods, often jumping out of the trees hundreds of feet above the streets and cracking the stone streets with their descent, her skin, a few shades lighter than Luffy’s deep brown, was always flushed with laughter, and both wore identical smiles.

“Let her be,” said Nyon, when Sandersonia made to talk to them about it. “She worked hard to give you two some semblance of childhood, as the eldest sister. Let her have one, if only for a little while.”

Inevitably, the day came when Hancock fell ill. She wasn’t sickly, but the insects on Amazon Lily often carried maladies that would put anyone in bed. On the day after she had recovered enough to spar, Nyon advised that she refrain from fighting Luffy, but she shook her head.

“He’ll never beat me any other way,” she said, coughing into a hand. “And he’s been ready to leave for weeks.” Straightening her back, she walked away and into the street, projecting the same power and confidence she always did.

Luffy could immediately tell that something was wrong.

“Hancock, are you—” He was cut off by a calf in his gut, sending him flying...but not as far as it should have. Luffy knit his brows. “Well, if that’s how you like it.” He flexed an arm, and it began to glow and blacken. Hancock used her Armament Haki in turn, and when he launched himself forward and hit her defense, she stumbled back.

“Good try, Luffy!” she said, doing a few somersaults backwards, then charging as Luffy inflated his fist, coating it once more with Haki. A physically exhausted Hancock was no match for Luffy’s Elephant Gun—for the first and only time ever, Luffy sent Boa Hancock flying. A single line was marked under D, for draw; Hancock was still able to stand, but she’d been knocked out of the arena.

The boat to take Luffy to Rusukaina was already prepared. No food or clothing had been included, per Rayleigh’s request; only Luffy, and Hancock for company, were in the small canoe that cut smoothly through the glassy waters of the Calm Belt. Rusukaina wasn’t far from Amazon Lily, so before the sun sank below the waves, they made landing on the smaller, more dangerous island.

Rayleigh waved to Hancock from the treeline, laughing.

“It’s nice to see you, Hancock. Come to drop off my student?” Hancock threw her head back.

“No!” He raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Why did you bring him here, then? He looks in good health, so I should be teaching him.” Hancock nodded impatiently, like he wasn’t getting the point.

“Yes! But you aren’t teaching him alone. He still has lots to learn from me!” Luffy looked back and forth between the two of them, his height making him seem like a child watching his parents argue. “I’ll teach him with you.” Rayleigh clearly had his doubts, but he knew better than to argue with Hancock.

“Alright,” he said, finally. “Come on—we’re jumping right into it.” He took off at a fast run, and Hancock a second later. Luffy grinned, placed his hat on a nearby rock, and launched himself into the trees after them, jumping from branch to branch as quickly as he could to catch up.

Several nights later, they all looked different. Luffy’s new clothes from Amazon Lily had caught on the bushes; bits of lace now littered the island. Hancock had torn a long piece of silk from her dress and tied up her hair with it, and now her thighs, tanned and powerful, flexed in the firelight. Rayleigh looked about the same, as he’d been staying here for weeks already.

Hancock and Rayleigh were laughing and exchanging stories. Luffy was laying flat on the ground, trying to catch his breath.

He had been glad when Hancock demanded to be one of his teachers, assuming that it would be more fun with her around. What had happened instead was that her brutality as an instructor complemented Rayleigh’s; as soon as she started interpreting making him stronger at any cost as the best way to express her love for Luffy, it was all over.

Sparring was never one one one. That, Rayleigh maintained, was “unfair” to Luffy.

“In the New World, things will always be as bad as possible. So if you think fighting both of us by yourself is impossible even when we aren’t trying to kill you, just wait until you get there and everything else is,” Rayleigh had said. “Now pick yourself up again; she didn’t body-slam you that hard.” The boulder behind Luffy that had split in half disagreed, but Luffy got up anyway.

Aside from sparring, exercise involved attacking the creatures that lived on the island, any of the 500, even though he couldn’t beat a single one, and doing push-ups, crunches, pull-ups, or some other calisthenic exercise until one of his mentors said stop, which could be anywhere from a few hours or days in the future.  Luffy learned to expect the worse, and in his rare spare time exercised obsessively.

By far his favorite thing to do was Haki training, though. The challenges, from detecting individual flakes during snowstorms, to breaking a rhino tusk simply by tanking it with his Haki, to taming the beasts one-by-one, were all mind-bendingly difficult, but there was a satisfaction in being able to perform such feats on his own. Hancock warned him not to get cocky, though.

“You’re growing quickly,” she said, a few months in, when they were approaching the first year of two. “But if I were to go all-out on you, you would have no chance. Do you understand?” Luffy knit his eyebrows.

“But...”

“Not all Warlords are created equal,” she replied, “and I am one of the strongest. You have not fought many Warlords deserving of the title, in my opinion, and while you must someday become stronger than me and Rayleigh if you want to be King, you aren’t there yet, and training won’t be enough. You need experience. So, above all, build on what we teach you. Because we could stay here until we died, and it wouldn’t be enough.” Luffy nodded, and went back to finding the scrap of lace she’d let drift off in the wind.

The rest of two years passed, as time does and before Luffy knew it, it was time to leave. The Amazons prepared all the things he would need for the trip, and as Luffy stretched on the beach, his brown skin even darker from two years with Rusukaina’s bizarre seasons, Hancock and Rayleigh looked down at him fondly.

“Did we do well?” asked Hancock, eyes soft. She had grown used to Luffy’s company now, and didn’t tend to break down, but was still noticeably kinder to him than she was normally. Rayleigh turned to her, smiled, and took a sip of his wine.

“We’ll have to check the papers.”

 

“Human scum...I’ll kill you as my stepping stone to the seas above!” Hody Jones’ voice, deep even above water, positively throbbed in the humid air of Fishman Island. He vanished in a second, appearing over Luffy, who looked tiny by comparison—but Luffy’s training had not been in vain. He leaned down, steam pouring from his arms, and jumped a few inches to the left.

Hody’s punch overshot, and as Luffy came back to his feet, Haki coated one, and he kicked Jones firmly in the gut, then added a second kick for good measure, sending the Fishman flying into the cliff face. Luffy held his hat down so the shockwave wouldn’t knock it off as he looked across the battlefield, frowning.

“Was that capoeira?” murmured Robin. “He’s gotten pretty good.” Luffy didn’t hear her, only focusing on his target.

“You can rule your crew, you can even be a pirate. But there can only be one King.” And as light streamed down into the field and the people of the island cheered, Luffy felt he was one step closer to the crown, with Hancock’s laughter at his back and his own in the future.

He was ready.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is the end, folks! This is the last official fic of this series proper.  
> However, I very well might add a few bonus chapters of things I wanted to see post timeskip. Watch out for me!


End file.
